The British Columbia Timber Situation 



147 



show the good effects and timber- 

 butchery will become a past tradition. 

 Of course, there will be the "practical" 

 man who opposes any measure which 

 does not cheapen logging, but the 

 government has, for its chief reason of 

 existence, the wielding of the power of 

 the people for the good of all the people, 

 and should be able to wield it in this 

 case. A reasonable use of the forest, no 

 clearing without reproduction of young 

 trees in a reasonable time, no wasteful 

 logging, no great slashes as menace, 

 reasonable care in cutting and removal 

 of logs, to prevent undue destruction 



the price of British Columbia timber 

 and its forests. 



(5) But most important of all: 

 Abolish the transferable license. Make 

 it impossible for any man to sell or buy 

 a license; cancel the license whenever 

 a man joins another, enters any com- 

 bination, corporation or deal, unless he 

 is willing to handle his limits as a 

 separate and distinct business. And 

 never issue any more licenses at all; but 

 replace them by a simple form of con- 

 tract for variable periods, each case 

 resting on its own peculiar conditions. 

 Such a law may seem harsh at first, 



(Photo by J. R. Dickson, May, 1909.) 

 High Stumps left in some British Columbia Logging, an Example of Wasteful Lumbering. 



of the forest, employment of a few 

 good men to act as inspectors to see 

 that these requirements are lived up 

 to — these are some of the measures that 

 must be enforced if the forest is to be 

 perpetuated. Give the othcer power, 

 moreover, to call the holder into court 

 and show cau.se, whenever his work is 

 too bad. 



"But this will interfere in our log- 

 ging and disable us in our competition 

 with the men in the States." 



The men in the States hold their 

 timber in fee simple. If they want to 

 destroy it, let them. It will only help 



but in fact is not so at all. It is well 

 known that the bulk of licenses in 

 British Columbia are young; that they 

 have cost the present owners but little, 

 and that even within the 21 years the 

 holder can easily remove enough timber 

 to repay himself well. To the bona fide 

 limit-holder, who intended, in any case, 

 to develop the limit in keeping with the 

 spirit of the license law, to him this 

 change would mean practically nothing. 

 If he should die, his heirs would be 

 allowed to continue. To the locator, 

 and usually the purchaser No. 1 or Xo. 

 2, it would mean little; cheir invest- 



